Serving cold food that should be hot or warm food that should be cold is never a good idea. For a restaurant-style touch to your dinner service, consider warming up your dinner plates on top of the oven while you bake your food or putting your salad bowls in the fridge for a few minutes prior to serving.

If you know someone who complains that their food has "gotten cold" even though it just came out of the oven, consider warming their plate on top of the oven before you put the hot food on it. It's a common practice in restaurants and cafes (which is partially why many servers warn you of a hot plate when they put it down in front of you,) as is chilling a salad bowl or dessert plate to make sure a chilled dish doesn't warm up too much before it gets to the table.

This trick won't keep the food from eventually coming to room temperature, but it will definitely slow down the process and hopefully keep your hard work fresh on the way to your dinner table. Of course, you don't want to keep your plates in the oven or salad bowls in the fridge forever forever, but if you have guests or are hosting a dinner party, it might help. Photo by Hadaiku.